PRODUCT MANUAL Version 1.
TABLE OF CONTENT 15. SETTINGS BAR.................................................................................................................2 0 1. SAFETY PRECAUTIONS.....................................................................................................4 16. RECORD PAGE.................................................................................................................2 1 1.1. 1.2. 1.3. 1.4. 1.5. 1.6. AC adapter operation................................................
1. SAFETY PRECAUTIONS 2. USAGE PRECAUTIONS 1.1. AC adapter operation 2.1. Electrical interference Be sure to use only an AC adapter which supplies 15 V DC, 1500 mA and is equipped with a “center plus” plug. The use of an adapter other than the specified type may damage the unit and pose a safety hazard. Connect the AC adapter only to an AC outlet that supplies the rated voltage required by the adapter.
. INTRODUCTION Congratulations on your purchase of the Cymatic Audio uTrack 24! The uTrack 24 is three powerful products in one: • A 24-track solid-state recorder • A 24-track digital audio file player • A 24-input, 24-output computer audio interface Never before has such a powerful combination of features been available at such an affordable price, and in such a compact footprint.
8. UTRACK 24 FRONT PANEL 1 3 In short; the uTrack24 allows you to capture the whole performance, even if you pressed the RECORD button a few seconds too late! 4 7 8 9 10 12 13 14 5 2 6 11 15 1. USB Port This port allows connection of a standard, off-the-shelf USB drive. The uTrack 24 records and plays back up to 24 tracks of audio to/from the connected USB drive. The uTrack supports USB drives from sizes ranging from 2GB to 16TB. 2.
9. UTRACK 24 REAR PANEL 1 INPUT 17 - 24 - 24 OUTPUT 9-16 INPUT 9-16 3 7 5 2 OUTPUT 17 main out OUTPUT 1-8 INPUT 1-8 1 4 wordclock in 9 12vdc out midi out 2 out 11 sync usb network in uTrack 24 6 8 10 1. Option Card Slot (Not Yet Functional in version 1.0 Firmware) The uTrack 24 can be fitted with an optional 24-input, 24-output option card that provides an alternate audio I/O path from the onboard analog I/O.
10. USING THE UTRACK 24 WITH A MIXER TO RECORD A LIVE CONCERT 11. USING THE UTRACK 24 WITH A RECORDING SPLIT/OUTBOARD MIC PREAMPS 24-Channel Analog Mixer Mixer Line Inputs uTrack 24 24 Channel Splitter Snake (3) 8-Channel Microphone Préamplifiers Stereo Headphones Stereo Powered Monitors In some instances, you may wish to use the uTrack 24 in a higher end remote recording setup, with a dedicated recording split of the stage snake (as opposed to the mixer’s direct outputs).
12. GETTING STARTED WITH RECORDING AND PLAYBACK 12.1. Preparing the attached USB drive for recording ! The uTrack 24 records 24 separate tracks of 24-bit audio, directly to any off-the-shelf USB drive; No computer required! The attached USB drive must be formatted in the “Fat32” format. In order to ensure that the USB drive is optimally formatted for audio recording, it highly advised that you format the attached USB drive using the uTrack 24’s “Format USB Drive” menu function.
Since the read/write speed of a freshly formatted USB hard drive is a consistent and known quantity that never changes (unlike a USB flash drive), you can be confident that the real recording will occur exactly as the test recording did. 12.8. Autoplay on Startup The uTrack 24 has the ability to automatically playback a playlist upon powering up. This feature can be very useful when the uTrack 24 is used in installed sound setups where a certain playlist should always be playing when the device is on. 12.
13. UTRACK 24 FILE FORMATS DAW audio to uTrack 24 The uTrack24 is specifically designed for continuous capturing of audio over longer periods of time. When recording, the uTrack24 stores data from multiple input channels into a single multichannel wave file. Many audio editing programs (“DAWs”) can only handle a maximum file size of 2GB .
4. Bit-Depth Displays the bit-depth that the uTrack 24 will record audio to or the bit rate of any audio project that is currently in playback. Available bit depths include 16-bit and 24-bit. You can always go back to multitrack mode by pressing the BROWSE button and choosing the multitrack folder, and will see the following prompt: ! 15.
The droputs display only occurs while the recording is occuring, it does not persist once the transport is stopped. However, if any dropouts have occurred, a dropouts log will be written to the attached USB drive, residing in the same folder as the take. The log gives details of how many dropouts there were and at what point in time they occurred. Note that soloing of a selected channel is temporary; it only lasts as long as the channel is selected.
6. Playback Mode Displays the current Playback Mode In order for this feature to operate, the “Pre-recording” feature needs to be disabled in the menu settings. The attached USB drive may also contain two other types of files that can be loaded for playback: • Playlists: • Stereo Audio Files: The screenshot above shows the browser window containing all three types of files: A stereo wave file, a playlist, and a MultiTrack take.
21. UTRACK 24 SYSTEM MENUS Similarly, if you try and play back audio when the unit is set to external clock and no clock source is connected, playback will not occur and the following message will temporarily appear The uTrack 24 contains a set of menus that allow you to adjust various settings.
! Output Attenuation: The uTrack 24’s analog outputs are configured at +22dB, allowing them to feed the balanced line inputs of a wide variety of professional audio equipment. NOTE: When using sample rates of 88.2 kHz or 96 kHz, the uTrack 24 is limited to recording of 8 tracks maximum. When selecting one of these sample rates, the following message will temporarily appear: However, all 24 channels of analog output can be electronically attenuated (reduced in volume) by up to 30dB, in 1dB increments.
22. USING THE UTRACK 24 AS A COMPUTER AUDIO INTERFACE The uTrack 24 can be connected to a personal computer or iOS device via its rear panel USB port and operate as a 24-input, 24-output computer audio interface. Mixer View 1 9 22.1. Using the uTrack 24 as an Audio Interface with Microsoft Windows 22.1.1. Minimum System Requirements ! Operating Systems (32- or 64bit): • Windows® XP(SP2), Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.
Settings View: Synchronization Tab Settings View: Buffers Tab The control panel’s buffers screen allows adjustment of the ASIO buffers used by your ASIO compatible DAW software. Device Name: The device name field controls what device name will appear in your DAW software. The default name is “uTrack 24” but it can be modified to the name of your choosing. Sample Rate: Click on this field to select what sample rate you wish to operate the uTrack 24 at when using it as an audio interface.
34 Settings View: Input Channels Tab Settings View: Output Channels Tab Double click an entry in the “channel name” column to modify the input channel names as they will appear in your DAW. Double click an entry in the “channel name” column to modify the output channel names as they will appear in your DAW. Click on the checkbox labeled ‘Include device name in ASIO display name’ if you wish for the channel names to be prepended with the device name.
22.2. Using the uTrack 24 as an Audio Interface with an OS X Settings View: About Tab 22.2.1. Minimum System Requirements ! Operating Systems: • Mac OS-X® 10.8 or higher Hardware: • Any Mac hardware compatible with OS X 10.8 or higher • 512 MB Ram (1GB or more recommended) • 1 free USB 2.0 compatible port NOTE: The speed of your processor, amount of RAM, and capacity, size, and speed of your hard drives will greatly affect the overall performance of your recording system.
22.3. Using the uTrack 24 as an Audio Interface with an Apple® iPad® Operating Systems: • iOS® 5 or higher Hardware: • iPad® 2 or newer • Apple® iPad Camera Connection Kit) • Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter If you determine that your uTrack24 firmware version number is lower than the version number of the downloadable uTrack24 firmware on the Cymatic Audio website, please perform a firmware update. 23.1. Firmware update using the USB connection (PC only) 22.3.2.
5. Click the green “Start” button and after a moment this screen will appear: 6. Locate the Firmware Update file you previously saved to your hard disk and either drag and drop it onto the orange SELECT FILE button or click the SELECT FILE button and select the file with the file browser that opens. 7. Click the green “UPLOAD FIRMWARE” button that appears. The update process starts and you will see the following screen: 40 PRODUCT MANUAL Updating the firmware of your uTrack 24 8.
24. LEGAL DISCLAIMER Technical specifications and appearance are subject to change without notice and accuracy is not guaranteed. Cymatic Audio accepts no liability for any loss which may be suffered by any person who relies either wholly or in part upon any description, photograph or statement contained herein. Colors and specifications may vary from the actual product. Cymatic Audio products are sold through resellers only.
Cymatic Technologies B.V. P.O. Box 208 6590 AE Gennep The Netherlands www.cymaticaudio.com Support: For Europe: support-EMEA@ cymaticaudio.com Rest of the world: support@cymaticaudio.com PRODUCT MANUAL Version 1.0 Firmware Build 2136 December 2014 © copyright 2015 Cymatic Audio B.V.